Gold prices are not expected to decline in the near future, or at least so they say. Jewelry production companies in India are waiting for news, but in the meantime, it appears that the precious metal is unstoppable. In the country of the Diwali Festival and several other gold-related festivals, more and more people will just have to settle for less gold and other precious metals in their main ornaments.

The passion for gold jewelry and the incredibly high value of an ounce of gold can drive people out of their minds – literally, and judging from the case of gold theft by a monk in a monastery, the most spiritually enlightened are no exception. That is what we have to conclude after reading the report about an Indian Jain Brahmin (a monk of very high spiritual and social status) who simply could not control his greed and turned against his own sacred home, stealing about $12K (550,000 rupees) worth of gold jewelry.

Members of the Swetamber Murti Pujan temple in the town of Malad (a suburb of Mumbai) never expected such behavior from the Brahmin Balaji Chauhan, who had loyally served the temple for the past 8 years. The gold jewelry did not vanish all at once; it was actually a gradual disappearance. According to local police reports, Chauhan stole gold items and buried them in the ground for a long period of time. His plan was to sell the precious metal items later on and earn himself a handsome profit. With gold prices still on the rise, burying the gold jewelry seemed like a good idea. After all, the price per gold bullion for the end of 2009 ($1096) is nothing compared to the predictions for 2010. The ground of Malad could indeed have been the best shelter and bank for the stolen gold jewelry.

For obvious reasons, Chauhan was not an immediate suspect, but while the police questioned all the members of the temple about any suspicious activity they might have witnessed, Chauhan seemed very nervous. In fact, he was so nervous that police could no longer respect his high status, so they interrogated him and led Chauhan to admit to stealing the gold jewelry. Perhaps the monk’s spiritual integrity prevented his lying skills from matching his skills of thievery.

Gold plays an important role in Indian culture. 

In effect, gold jewelry has been an essential motif in popular and religious ceremonies for years. In the past year, as gold prices reached unreasonable heights, Indians had to find substitutes for the precious metal, and even diamond (gold-free) jewelry seemed inexpensive compared to gold items.

It seems that the greedy Brahmin deeds were not promoted by an unconditional spiritual attraction to gold, but rather a wise understanding of the large sums of money he could receive in exchange for it, not to mention the fact that he assumed he could get away with it quite easily. In a country where religious Brahmins are so highly esteemed in society, Chauhan must have been a terrible liar indeed if he managed to get caught.